When mixed, smartphones and adolescents' raging hormones can coalesce an illegal cocktail. The predicament is worsened when you add in that minors often don't realize sexting is against the law and that they're just as subject to potential criminal charges.

"Transmitting of nude images of a minor is illegal," Bay City Public Safety Director Michael J. Cecchini stated categorically. Being a minor yourself does not allow you to create or transmit nude photos of yourself or other juveniles.

Studies indicate sexting -- the sending of sexually explicit images or messages via cellphones -- is on the rise among America's youth, and Bay County is not exempt from the trend.

A study conducted by Drexel University of Philadelphia and published in June 2014 stated more than half of surveyed college students admitted to sexting as minors. The study also indicated "Those who were aware of the potential legal consequences reported sexting as a minor significantly less than those who were not aware of the legal consequences."

Bay City Public Director Michael J. CecchiniYfat Yossifor

"It's a pretty common problem," said Janet Greif, superintendent of Bay City Public Schools.

John P. Torres, deputy court administrator for Bay County Probate and Juvenile Court, concurred, stating that the court's Girls Rebuilding Expectations and Aspirations in Themselves Program, or GREAT, has been dealing with an influx of sexting issues lately. The program helps girls develop skills to make positive changes in their lives.

"They say it's something they have seen grow more and more over the past few years," Torres said. "As time has gone on, they've needed to get more education to the girls on sexting, because it is becoming a problem. They teach them about the importance of not sexting somebody and that the digital footprint is something that can follow them their entire lives. They've really made it part of their therapy curriculum."

As a case in point regarding the seriousness of sexting, the week of May 2-6, officers with the Bay City Department of Public Safety began investigating reports that some students at T.L. Handy Middle School had circulated sexually suggestive photos of themselves, according Cecchini.

The director added that, as the case is an open investigation, he cannot comment on the particulars of the matter, including whether there is any indication adults were involved.

Principal Brian DuFresne also declined to comment, apart from stating the matter "is not a school discipline issue."

Cecchini did say, however, that his officers investigate reports of minors sending nude or salacious images to each other or adults about six to 10 times each year. He added there is a national epidemic of such conduct, which has led to some minors in other jurisdictions committed suicide.

In April, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a report defining "sextortion" as a "growing type of online sexual exploitation in which offenders coerce or blackmail victims into providing sexually explicit images or videos of themselves, often in compliance with the offender's sexual demands and threats of posting the images publicly or sending the images to the victim's friends and family."

The report goes on to state that "sextortion is by far the most significantly growing threat to children, with more than 60 percent of survey respondents indicating this type of online enticement of minors was increasing." The survey involved more than 1,000 investigators, law enforcement managers, prosecutors, analysts, victim service providers and Department of Justice grant recipients. It focused on changes to the child sexual exploitation threat since the previous assessment and potential threats over the next five years.

"Parents need to be on top of what their adolescent children are doing on their phones," Cecchini said. "They have a right to go and look at the phones to make sure they're not doing unsafe things. Parental supervision is the key."

Superintendent Greif seconded Cecchini's recommendation that parents need to be vigilant and shouldn't be timid about inspecting their kids' phones.

"It's really an issue of parents educating their children," she said. "Once (images) are out there, they're out there forever. I would check my child's phone on a regular basis."

Greif added that in Bay City's schools, students are taught about being "responsible digital citizens," stressing to them that once a photo has been transmitted or posted, it is never totally gone, regardless of deletion efforts.

Greif said if faculty learn of students circulating lewd images, police are notified.

Regarding sextortion specifically, that's a phenomenon that hasn't yet hit Bay County, at least not in the courts.

Bay County Prosecutor Kurt C. Asbury

"My office has not prosecuted, as of yet, any cases dealing with this specific allegation of sextortion," Bay County Prosecutor Kurt C. Asbury said. "Unfortunately, as technology expands and increases, it also creates more opportunities for kids to be victims. Educating teenagers and young adults on the dangers of sexting and posting is very important. Once something is published via text message, phone app, or social media outlet, you can never be assured it's permanently deleted and won't resurface."

Knowingly possessing such material carries a maximum potential penalty of four years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Distributing or promoting child porn is punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Last -- and most severe -- "a person who persuades, induces, entices, coerces, causes, or knowingly allows" a minor to engage in sexual abusive activity such as sexting faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

While Michigan's age of consent for people to engage in sexual activity is 16, individuals are considered minors until 18. This means that while two 16-year-olds could have a legal sexual relationship, if they took nude photos of each other and exchanged them, they'd be violating statutes banning child pornography.

Numerous adults have faced child porn charges in Bay County over the years, Asbury said.

The prosecutor added that Michigan recently passed a new law making it illegal to disseminate sexually explicit visual material of adults on a computer or video device without the consent of the people depicted. The law, which goes into effect July 25, was sponsored as a pair of bills by Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, and targets "cyber revenge" or "revenge porn."

"Abusing today's great technological advancements, offenders of cyber revenge only need a moment to put a sexually explicit photo online without consent -- for the purpose of intimidating or harassing the victim or to simply ruin their reputation. Now, it's a crime and will be punished," Jones said in a statement on his website.

In Bay County, two juveniles in the past 18 months faced charges related to sexting, Torres said. The juveniles were petitioned stemming from investigations into two separate incidents, Torres said, adding that the cases were the first of their kind in Bay County.

Torres could not disclose additional information on those cases, such as what the juveniles were specifically charged with or how those matters were resolved.

"An important thing for anyone to remember before posting or sending (images) ... is to make sure you would be comfortable with a friend, family member, school teacher, or police officer seeing it," Asbury said. "Anything can be replicated. Once it's released into cyberspace, it's nearly impossible to totally retrieve or be assured the images are removed. A victim gets revictimized every time the images resurface. Before hitting 'send,' think about the consequences."

Asbury recommended www.netsmartz.org as a good resource for parents, children, and teenagers on Internet safety, file sharing and sexting.

"Juveniles can face legal consequences for the violation of laws pertaining to child sexually abusive material, but every case is different and needs to be reviewed and decided on its own facts and circumstances," Asbury said. "A prosecutor's decision to charge juveniles sexting each other should be done so on a case-by-case basis."

He added it is a prosecutor's job and ethical duty to ensure the facts warrant criminal charges in a sexting case, due to the serious ramifications entailed.